Making A Connection
by xfirefly9x
Summary: Angel/Kate. A collection of short fics based on Angel and Kate.
1. Making A Connection

_A/N: Tag to 1x02 'Lonely Hearts'._

**_Making A Connection_**

She must have been blind. She must have been blind to have not realized, to have not noticed that Angel was the one she was searching for – and not in the knight-in-shining-armour sense that she had believed was implied in the first of their conversations.

She shouldn't have so easily been persuaded that maybe, just maybe, it was her night.

Making a connection was just that – making a connection – and she had thought...

Well, it didn't matter what she had thought.

Angel was killer.

She should have seen it from the start. She should have seen it in the way he acted.

She must have been blind to think that maybe she had finally found the connection she had secretly been hoping for.

What she had found in Angel was as far from what she wanted as she could get.

_fin._


	2. Here She Is

_**Here She Is**_

Her body shakes involuntarily. Pulling her arms tighter around her middle, she closes her eyes and swallows. "It hurts," she says. "It hurts so bad."

When she opens her eyes again, Angel reaches for her. He places a hand on her arm and murmurs her name. "Look at me. Kate."

She feels her lower lip tremble as she brings her eyes to meet his.

His lips thin out and there's a haunted look in his eyes. It's a look she has seen too many times before.

"Don't," she says.

"Kate, I-"

"Help me through this," she adds, "But don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" he says gently.

She frowns. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

He falls silent.

In the past that might have unnerved her but now it is merely a relief. She doesn't want his pity or anyone else's. She doesn't deserve it.

"Why did you come back?" Angel finally asks.

The question startles her, even though she knows it shouldn't.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

"No, I-" She breaks off.

He removes his hand form her arm and she studies the area of skin it reveals. Smooth. Pale. Hers. It seems almost foreign.

"I needed to see you," she admits.

Angel nods like that is enough of an explanation. It isn't though and he knows it. There is more to her visit than simply missing a friend. There is so much more. It can wait for later though.

"I'll set up the spare room," Angel says and with a reassuring squeeze of her hand he is moving away into the depths of his apartment.

She stares after him and tries to keep in her tears and her body continues to shiver at it's own accord. Angel Investigations' motto comes to mind and she smiles ironically. 'We help the helpless.'

She never expected that one day she would fall under that category. But then, here she is. She runs her tongue over her lips. Though he can't hear her, she murmurs, "you're the only one I can trust."

_fin._


	3. Platitudes

_**Platitudes**_

"Kate!" Angel grabbed the distraught officer's shoulders and shook her gently, trying to catch her attention. He had never seen her like this before; it was concerning to say the least. "Kate," he said again.

Nothing. She stared forwards, unblinking, unseeing.

And then the moment passed, and tears sprung to her eyes. She blinked, furiously,. and pushed against him, trying to get out of his grasp. He held tight, until she stopped struggling against him and collapsed into his arms, sobbing into his chest.

"Kate, are you all right?"

She sniffed and then lifted her head to glare at him. "Do I look all right?"

He said nothing, but frowned.

She swiped angrily at the tears streaking her face, even as more fell.

"Can I... you know. Get you anything?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"What's wrong?" He cringed when she glared at him.

Just as quickly as she had arrived at his door, she began to make her exit. She pulled from his grasp, and told him, "It's... nothing. I should go."

He wondered if he had somehow pushed her away with his words. He couldn't see how, but then, here they were. Kate was one of the strongest people he knew, and yet she had shown up in tears at his place, and now was leaving after he'd asked her if she was all right.

None of it made sense. And why should it?

"If you need anything," he said to her back as she pushed the door open.

She glanced over her shoulder, and a pang went through him at the sight of her reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "I'll be fine," she said, and though he was certain she was far from fine now, he could tell she was being truthful.

He watched her go, and then returned to his office to brood.

_fin._


End file.
